After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US Pacific Fleet suffered heavy losses, and it was difficult to organize an effective counterattack in a short period of time. At the same time, the Japanese army took advantage of the weakness of the defensive strength of the American and British forces to launch attacks on Malaysia, the Philippines and other places, and further penetrated the Southeast Asian region.
In Southeast Asia, the Japanese not only attacked Pearl Harbor and caused heavy losses, but also mistreated captured American soldiers, which became known as the "Bataan Death March".
These brutal acts were difficult for the Americans to accept, so the United States used its great industrial power to quickly gather forces to fight back.
At the beginning of 1942, the U.S. military launched a symbolic Doolittle air raid, and in order to completely solve the worries, the Japanese decided to capture Midway, in order to fully control the western Pacific region, and at the same time stifle the U.S. counterattack.
However, the Japanese Navy, in addition to its arrogance, did not realize that its code had already been cracked by the US military. The Japanese team attacking Midway seemed to be trapped in a trap.
In June 1942, the Battle of Midway broke out, and the U.S. military relied on its intelligence superiority and the only three remaining aircraft carriers as the core to form the Zero Hour Fleet to successfully defeat the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet.
In this battle, all four flagship aircraft carriers of the Japanese army were sunk, 332 aircraft were shot down, and a number of excellent naval aviation units were also lost. This battle completely changed the situation of the Pacific War.
In order to cut off Japan's maritime lifeline and provide strategic support for an attack on the Japanese mainland, the U.S. military decided to attack the Philippines, which Japan also regarded as a life-and-death point and decided to hold on, and the two sides fought in the Philippines in 1944.
In this battle, the Japanese army tried in vain to turn the tide of the war and gathered more than 350,000 troops, including 8 infantry divisions, 1 tank division and 4 independent mixed brigades.
At the same time, they put into battle all the capital ships of the Combined Fleet, including 4 aircraft carriers, 9 battleships, 19 cruisers and 34 destroyers.
On the American side, they invested a number of troops comparable to Japan's, and at sea several times as many as the Japanese Navy, with 35 aircraft carriers participating in the battle.
In mid-September, they began bombing Japanese airfields in places such as the Philippines in order to seize air supremacy and landed on Leyte Island. Eventually, on October 23-26, Japan decided to engage the U.S. forces in a decisive battle, and the last major naval battle in the Pacific theater broke out in Leyte Gulf, which became known as the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
This time, the absolute superiority of the US military made the Japanese Navy powerless. From the tonnage, it can be seen that the US military has invested more than 1.33 million tons of ships, while the Japanese Navy has only 730,000 tons.
Together with the loss of pilots of the Japanese Air Forces, the Japanese Combined Fleet was practically disintegrated. Without the support of sea-based and road-based aviation, the campaign was undoubtedly a nightmare for Japan.
On December 25, the U.S. forces successfully captured Leyte, and the ensuing battle focused on Luzon. There were 280,000 Japanese troops stationed on the island, as well as the Japanese army's campaign headquarters.
By the beginning of 1945, the U.S. forces had begun to land in northern Luzon, and at this time, the Japanese army had lost its naval support, and its supply was difficult, and its combat effectiveness was greatly reduced. At this time, they received false news that the Japanese Navy had defeated the US ** team in the Pacific, so they carried out a counter-landing in the beachhead area.
However, under the blow of the powerful firepower of the American army, the Japanese suffered heavy losses.
Under the onslaught of American troops, the Japanese were forced to retreat to the northern region. However, due to the shortage of supplies and the spread of disease, the Japanese army on the island began to experience large-scale non-combat attrition, and even cannibalism.
According to statistics, by the end of the July campaign, the losses of the Japanese on Luzon amounted to 210,000 people, for a total of 500,000 losses. The battle completely destroyed the Japanese Combined Fleet, cut off Japan's sea supply lines, provided a forward base for the U.S. Air Force to bomb the Japanese mainland, and also accelerated Japan's defeat.
And those Japanese soldiers who were once brutal also suffered their due punishment in the end. It was the worst defeat suffered by the Japanese army in World War II.